ISLAMABAD: Flash floods triggered by heavy rain have killed more than 20 people and destroyed hundreds of houses in northern Pakistan, officials said on Thursday.

Irshad Bhatti, a spokesman for the country's National Disaster Management Authority, said the extent of the damage was still being assessed.

The majority of the deaths were reported in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where at least 12 people were killed, Bhatti said, mostly when mud-brick buildings collapsed.

Nine died in flooding in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Adnan Khan, an official from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said he feared the death toll could rise.

“Dozens of families have suffered and their houses were destroyed, several people are still missing” Khan told AFP.

Weather officials are predicting heavy rain in the next three days and rescue teams are closely monitoring the situation, Bhatti said.

Floods in Pakistan in the summer of 2011 affected 5.8 million people, with floodwaters killing livestock, destroying crops, homes and infrastructure as the nation struggled to recover from record inundations the previous year.